Analysis of nonharmonic oscillations in Schottky diodes

[EN]We investigate damped nonharmonic oscillations at terahertz frequencies observed in the current response of Schottky diodes simulated with the Monte Carlo method under applied signals of a few hundred GHz. From Monte Carlo simulations of different diode structures, two kinds of nonharmonic oscillations have been identified. The first kind of oscillations is due to the coupling of the nonlinear performance of the Schottky junction with the inertial motion of the carriers in the non-depleted region of the epilayer. The second kind of oscillations is due to the modulation of the n+–n junction when high electric fields are induced in the non-depleted region of the epilayer. These oscillations constitute a promising mechanism for THz signal generation.ROOTHz (FP7-243845